god is closer than you think pt2

Week 2: The Choice
Pastor John Ortberg, who wrote God Is Closer Than You Think, tells of a relative of
his—a young woman and her husband—who bought an older home a few years ago and were
fixing it up.
The husband was going through the attic during one of those fix-up days and found an
old paper bag. Knowing it wasn’t something they had put there—and out of curiosity—he
decided to look inside. There was money in the bag. In fact, it turned out to be thousands and
thousands of dollars!
They looked at the dates on the bills and they were all from many decades ago—that bag
had been up there for ages. There was no way to track who put it there first—if it was a miser’s
savings or left over from some bank heist.
The husband said, “What are ethics of this—what do we do with it?”
John’s relative replied, “Maybe we should call John.”
The husband paused for a moment and said, “No—he’s a pastor. He’ll tell us we have to
give it back.”
Instead, they decided to call a lawyer so they wouldn’t get any ethical advice at all! He
said they could keep it.
They did end up calling John anyway. He also said that they could keep it … as long as
they tithed … to a pastor that they were related to.
[PAUSE]
Here’s the strange thing … somebody put a treasure in the attic and then forgot it was
there.

Just think about all the other owners between then and now, living in that house for years.
Imagine the flood of financial obligations and crises that existed during that time: bills, mortgage
payments, taxes, debt. There were, no doubt, some sleepless nights and anxious moments in that
house about financial concerns.
And the whole time there was a treasure in the house.
Here’s the point:
There was a huge gap between the riches available to those people … and the reality in
which they lived. They never made the effort to go to the attic. They never saw the treasure.
The reality for many people today is that there is a gap between what they are
experiencing in their relationship with God and what they know they could be experiencing.
It is as though they are living and walking around in the house knowing that there is
treasure in the attic—but it is a treasure that they have rarely, if ever, experienced. They know
that there’s something more, but haven’t been willing to visit the attic.
The choice is theirs, but they haven’t made the choice to be with God.
Last week we talked about God’s desire from the beginning of creation to be with
us—and all the different ways he has expressed that. But even with all his desire and effort, he
still leaves it up to you and me to make the choice to be with him.
And remember, God is closer than you think.
Today we’re going to talk about our choice … to go to the attic … to move toward God.
And we’re going to consider what it means to pursue a relationship with him.
Jesus said anyone who makes his way into the kingdom of God is like a man who finds
treasure buried in a field; in his joy he sells everything he owns because this is the one thing he
needs.

This guy didn’t go out treasure seeking. He wasn’t some Indiana Jones or on a hunt for
“national treasure” … it was discovered through the natural course of doing life—of working the
fields. And when he invested in the field he got a lot more in return than just a plot of land.
You see, when we make the choice to be with God, it doesn’t mean that we have to go
and sit on a mountain and learn how to chant; or eat one meal a week; or read our Bibles and
pray twenty-three hours a day … we can learn to be with Jesus through every part of every day.
As Christ-followers, as disciples, there’s a treasure to be found by being with Jesus and it
is worth everything we can invest to spend every day with him. A disciple is someone who seeks
concretely to make each day a chance to be with Jesus, to learn from Jesus …
To become like Jesus.
As we consider what it means to make the choice to be with Jesus every day, I’m going to
cover four aspects of life which illustrate how interwoven this concept can be in the fabric of our
days.
Let’s start with work. How do you work with Jesus?
Did you know that the single largest block of waking time in most of our lives is spent
working? How we work—and the way we approach our work—can actually be a life-or-death
decision for us.
This is very significant. There was a survey done which discovered that outside of
genetics, the single most important predictor of longevity of life was work satisfaction!
[PAUSE]
Now that you know that, are some of you wondering if you’re going to die at any
moment?!

Since work is such an important part of our lives, I think it’s important that we say a bit
about what work is from a biblical perspective.
Over the last few centuries, arising from the Industrial Revolution, we’ve come to equate
work with having a job which in turn yields our paycheck.
The result has been that we have sort of distinguished between those who “work” and
those who “do not work.” In fact, many people—those who are retired, or stay-at-home parents,
or the unemployed—are thought of as not working.
Do you remember in school when you were told, “There’s no such thing as a stupid
question?” Oh yes there is …
Go ask a mom of young children: “Do you work?” THAT’S a stupid question!
We have to reclaim the biblical definition of work because it encompasses far more than
our culture has defined. The biblical perspective is that work is the creation of value as I serve
God, as I care for his creation, and as I seek to benefit the lives of other people.
Work includes our paid employment. And work also includes doing household chores. It
includes study and schoolwork. It includes our volunteer service at church or in the community.
Here’s a simple test you can take right now to evaluate whether or not you are
functioning with a biblical perspective of work. Ask yourself this question:
“If tomorrow, Jesus were to show up while I’m working, looking just like me, would
things go any differently?”
Every day, no matter what work you are doing, equals an opportunity to learn from Jesus
how to do your job as he would. Every day we should be working a little bit better than the day
before. Some days it’s no more than an incremental improvement in our attitude. Other days, it’s
not robbing our employers of the energy, or focus, or time for which they are paying us.

There’s a fundamental statement about work in the Bible which serves as kind of a
recalibrating directive that I try to remember in all that I do. Here it is:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.…
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23–24)
Rate yourself on a scale of 1–10, with 1 representing “Whatever I do I do as little as
possible when I do it” and 10 representing “I have ‘HWJW” on a bracelet, on my screensaver,
and on posters around my office and home that remind me: “How Would Jesus Work?” Where
are you on the scale?
Here’s a true story—I’m not making this up:
A husband was at home on the couch reading the newspaper. His wife, who was eight
months pregnant, was in the kitchen—on her hands and knees—waxing the kitchen floor.
His mother-in-law walks in and exclaims: “How can you let my daughter do this?”
He peers over his newspaper and replies, “I tried to help. I told her if she’d tie a rag
around her middle, she’d get done twice as fast.”
[PAUSE]
No one ever saw him again!
Dallas Willard writes this about work: We “routinely sacrifice our comfort and pleasure
for the quality of our work, whether it be ax handles, tacos, or the development of a student
we’re teaching … We do the job well because that is what Jesus would like, and we admire and
love him. It is what he would do.”
Here’s a few more questions to ask yourself:
Am I making an idol of my work?
Do I sacrifice time and energy that ought to go to my family, or friendships, or rest, or to
prayer?
How do I treat my coworkers?
If I’m in a position of authority, do I treat those who report to me as Jesus would? Am I
truthful and fair? Do I work for their growth and development?
Do I regularly ask God for help, wisdom, and guidance in my work?
Am I scrupulously honest in my work? Am I careful with expense reports? Do I
reimburse the company for personal use of phone or equipment?
Is my work in line with my sense of how God has gifted and called me? If not, what steps
can I take to move in the right direction? How can I continue to serve with diligence in the
meantime?
Whatever activity may constitute work, how we choose to do it reflects our choice to be
with God or to move away from God.
It’s important to remember that work is one of best learning opportunities most of us
have to discover truth about ourselves. It is an intensive environment which God uses to test and
shape us to become more like Jesus.
When we receive feedback, or performance reviews, and when there’s an honest
assessment of our attitudes and habits it can be very significant—if we’re truly open.
Attitude is huge.
Concerning attitude, how many of you are defensive?
Perhaps you are sitting next to someone who is so defensive they won’t admit it … so
why don’t you just raise your hand for them in a spirit of community?!

Teachability in the workplace is a key attitude which honors Christ. Asking for and
learning from honest feedback in your work is one of the greatest growth opportunities you’ll
ever have.
So tomorrow when you go to your work, take a moment before you start and say:
“Here’s my chance to learn from Jesus how to live in his kingdom.”
Now let’s turn the corner and talk about the opposite of work. Another area where we can
make the choice to be with Jesus is in our …
Recreational activities and leisure time
God did not make you to work all the time.
This may come as a shock to some of the “type A’s” here, but part of God’s will for you
is to rest, relax, create, play, and be renewed.
Each moment of free time that you have equals a chance to be with him.
But we need to be intentional, because the default mode with our time often goes toward
what one sociologist calls an eight-hundred-pound gorilla of leisure: the television. Time
researchers John Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey found that television took almost 40 percent of
American’s free time in 1995—and that was an increase of a third from thirty years earlier!
Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, writes, “Dependence on television for
entertainment is not merely a significant predictor of loss of community; it is the single most
consistent predictor I have discovered.”
Nothing—not low education, not full-time work, not long commutes, not poverty or
financial distress—is more broadly connected with loss of community and relational
disconnection than is dependence on TV for entertainment.

People who rely on TV for entertainment are least likely to volunteer, least likely to stay
in touch with friends, least likely to attend church—and most likely to give another driver the
finger.
Television is surely habit forming and may be mildly addictive. In 1977, the Detroit Free
Press was able to find only five out of one-hundred and twenty families willing to give up TV
for a month in return for five-hundred dollars.
People who do give up TV report experiencing boredom, anxiety, irritation, and
depression. One woman observed: “It was terrible. We did nothing—my husband and I talked.”
So why are we so hooked on it? Does it produce high levels of joy, growth, and meaning?
No.
In fact, in one study, researchers had subjects carry beepers, and when the beeper went
off they’d write what they were doing, and how they felt. Here’s what they discovered: TV
watching was associated with feelings of passivity and lowered alertness. It was rated below
every other leisure activity—even below work!
So why are we devoted to it? In Putnam’s book he quotes British researchers Sue
Bowden and Avner Offer who say that: “Television is the cheapest and least demanding way to
avert boredom.… TV’s dominance in our lives reflects not its sublime pleasures but its minimal
costs.”
So how can you reclaim your recreational and leisure time—and choose to be with Jesus
instead of Hollywood?
Limit how much you watch. We have rule in our house about how much the TV can be
on—decide on a limit.
Limit the number of TVs in your house.
Here’s a shocking factoid: In 1970—6 percent of all sixth graders had TVs in their
bedrooms. But by 1999—77 percent of sixth graders had their own bedroom TV!
Perhaps you would choose to go for a day/weekend/week of no TV. Take it even further
and go on a “media fast.”
As you are reclaiming the time lost to TV, ask yourself: “What are some of the activities
that God uses to breathe life into me? What do I engage in that produces gratitude, joy, and
renewal?”
Some people love to get out into nature—either riding a motorcycle, hiking, or biking.
Others enjoy cooking—so for them reading cookbooks and creating new dishes is their
way of feeling refreshed and renewed.
Maybe your deal is eating—you need to find someone whose deal is cooking and strike
up a spiritual friendship!
Tomorrow you’ll probably have some free time. Before you pick up the remote control,
stop … and say, “Here’s my chance—to be with Jesus, learn how to become like him.”
A third area where we can make the choice to be with Jesus is through our …
Lifestyle choices
We all make choices about the way we’ll spend our time. The way we spend our money.
What our pace of life will be. How much debt we’ll live in. How many commitments we’ll
make. How much pressure we’ll be under—
These have an enormous impact on whether we’re able to get closer to God, or if we are
moving farther away.
The apostle Paul basically said: “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” (Romans
12:2)

But what happens is that the world says: “Move faster!”—and so we do!
But when we move faster it cuts us off from prayer. We become more anxious and
increasingly angry … and eventually unable to love.
Media tycoon Robert Maxwell was being picked up at the airport by an employee. But
the employee was late picking him up, so Maxwell fired him. The employee was Maxwell’s own
son.
It’s not just media tycoons who wrestle with this. If Satan can’t make you defy God
outright, he’ll settle for just making you real busy.
John Ortberg tells about a time when he was in Germany for a weekend ministry
assignment. It was a full weekend—he flew out from Chicago on a Friday night and arrived
Saturday afternoon. Here’s how he describes the weekend:
“I arrived Saturday afternoon and did four talks, a question-and-answer session, a couple
of magazine interviews, and a radio broadcast in forty-eight hours. There was still one interview
left to go, so we decided to do that in the car on the way to the airport.
“On the autobahn—where there is no speed limit—we didn’t have much time to catch the
plane. I looked up—and we were driving 230 kilometers—something over 140 miles per
hour—and I’m saying into the tape recorder—
“hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day …
“you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life …
“Next to me the German countryside is an absolute blur out the window. The guy from
Willow with me was in the front seat and he sat there thinking: This is how I’m going to die;
traveling at the speed of sound in Germany, listening to someone drone on in the backseat about
eliminating hurry from my life.”

So what’s the pace of life at which you can live and still be intimately connected to God?
What’s the pace of life at which you will be able to effectively love people and live with joy?
Another lifestyle choice has to do with our stuff. Our world says: “Accumulate more.”
We live in a consumer culture:
—Holidays, which once existed for rest and worship, are now primarily excuses to shop
and consume.
—Malls have replaced churches and town squares as gathering places.
And the rise in consumerism has led to an increase in clutter in our lives. One of the ways
that we can choose to be with God is to clear out the clutter so that we are freer to focus on him.
Go on a forty-day de-clutter campaign in your home. Clean out your closets and donate excess
stuff to charity.
Dr. Paul Pearsall writes, “You may need help with this assignment, because many of my
patients cannot seem to bring themselves to get rid of their stuff. You may require a closet
exorcist experienced in dealing with the demons of closet clutter. A trusted friend can also
prevent the ‘restuffing phenomenon.’ Restuffing happens when in the process of cleaning out
closets and drawers, we somehow are stimulated to acquire more stuff.
“One of my patients said: ‘Until I tried to get rid of all my junk I didn’t need or use, I
didn’t realize how much I didn’t have. I really had to go out shopping.’ This ‘stuff logic’ can
sometimes be blocked by a friend who is better disciplined in simplification.
“Beware of the stuff co-addicts who may see a closet cleaning as a chance to acquire stuff
for themselves from your stuff supply. Such friends are likely to go with you on a restuffing
expedition or even to trade stuff with you.”

Obviously that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to shop. It’s fine to love beauty and enjoy
excellence and fine design—those are good things.
The point is, we each need to come to the place where we can say: “I will need God’s
help to make purchasing decisions wisely.”
Carry that wisdom principle into other areas of life. A job change. Relocation. A new
relationship. Any time you make a major life decision, you need to ask the question: “How will
this impact my ability to follow Christ—as a worker, dad, friend, husband, and so on.
If you are going to make the choice to be with Jesus through your lifestyle choices,
saying yes to Jesus means you are going to have to say no to some other things.
What do you need to say no to?
—Maybe you say no to debt. Perhaps you’ll want to take a financial management course
at your church. Start to make the move from financial pressure to generosity.
—Maybe you say no to certain time commitments. There could be an activity you or the
kids are involved in—and it’s not a bad thing in itself, but it’s contributing to an overall
pace of life for you or your family that is not healthy.
—Maybe it’s a major purchase that could put you under financial pressure that would not
be healthy.
—Maybe it’s a need to honor the Sabbath.
Be sure to have times of rest or vacation with people you love that will be renewing to
you and remind you of God’s goodness. Bring a healthy rhythm to your life’s pace and balance
with your stuff. Make the choice to be with Jesus in your lifestyle choices.
The fourth area where we can make the choice to be with Jesus is in our …
Relationships

Have you ever considered that when you are with other people, you are making the
choice to either be with Jesus in those relationships or to exclude him?
Every day you are interacting with people. Every interaction is a chance to learn from
Jesus how to form a loving heart.
For instance: The moment of greeting is a very important moment. Every culture has
certain expressions or rituals or questions used in greeting that say:
“You are significant. You matter to me.”
The Bible says a lot about greetings. There was a standard greeting in the Old Testament
which was simply “peace.” The Hebrew word is shalom, which means, “I hope you flourish in
God’s good order.”
Now apparently, some people got overly zealous with their greeting and it was anything
but “peace.” In the book of Proverbs there’s a warning not to get super-spiritual in your greeting.
It says, “If a man loudly blesses his neighbor in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.”
Jesus warns of the religious leaders, saying, “They … love to be greeted in the
marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at
banquets.” In other words, the act of greeting for these pious folks was all about being sure their
sense of status and importance was propped up. Am I being greeted by the “right people” in the
“right way”? Do important people remember my name? Do they say nice things to me?
Four times when Paul wrote to the churches he instructed them to “greet one another with
a holy kiss.” It was part of their culture.
It sounds kind of weird to me. Though I’m not sure we have a lot to brag about. In our
culture, we’ve become the first in history where the standard greeting is: “Whassssup?”
Here are some ways to make the choice to be with Jesus when you greet someone:
—As you greet them, say a silent prayer asking God to bless them (I would recommend
that you not drop to your knees, clasp your hands, and close your eyes—doing this may actually
keep them from ever choosing to meet you!).
—Consider the gift of a touch. Some people never get touched. A handshake or a hand on
a shoulder can make a huge difference in a person’s life.
Go through the New Testament and see how often Jesus touches people. He especially
touches people who didn’t normally get touched—sinners, lepers, children—and they expressed
authentic joy as a result!
Another facet of choosing to be with Jesus in our relationships is through our friendships.
On March 3, 2000, the Wall Street Journal printed an article called, “Whatever Happened
to Friendship?” In it, Nancy Ann Jeffrey states that we’re living in the midst of what could be
called “the marginalization of friendship.”
“People are saying—‘It’s the one thing I can give up,’ says sociologist Jan Yager.
“They’re diminishing the value of friendship.”
Even though the TV comedy Friends was a hit, the reality is that friendships are
becoming less common. When friendships are formed, they are more short-lived and more
superficial.
A friendless life is not God’s plan for human life. When we make a choice to live with
marginalized friendships—or no friendships—we are choosing to be less “with” Jesus—because
he reveals himself to us through the community of friendship. The Bible says, “A friend loves at
all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
Friendship is necessary for spiritual growth. In the book of Proverbs it says: “As iron
sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

Are you devoting enough time, attention, and energy to cultivating deep spiritual
friendships?
Another kind of relationship where we not only make the choice to be with Jesus, but
cling to him is when we have to deal with difficult people.
You may not believe this, but you need difficult people in your life.
Jesus was very emphatic about this. He said (and I paraphrase), “Love your
enemies—those who are difficult for you to like. If you love only those who love you
back—where’s the goodness in that? Even the mafia does that much. And if you greet only your
brothers, what are you doing more than others? Drug dealers do the same thing.”
The ability to love difficult people is like a litmus test of spiritual growth.
This means—you need difficult people in your life. It is absolutely necessary for your
development. Through those relationships you are drawn more closely to Christ because your
new intention is to treat these people the way Jesus would, and you can’t do that apart from him.
If you’ve got some difficult people in your life—be glad.
If you don’t—we have a list here at the church. We can assign you some.
I want you to think of someone who is difficult for you to love:
Maybe someone at work.
Maybe someone in your family.
Maybe an ex-spouse.
Maybe it varies—a relationship that sometimes goes smoothly, sometimes doesn’t.
Every time you have an encounter with someone who’s difficult for you to love,
remember:
Here’s my chance to learn from Jesus how to live in his kingdom. Here’s my chance to be
with Jesus in the stuff of everyday life.
Every day, woven into the fabric of our activities and relationships, are choices to be with
Jesus or to attempt life on our own.
Every day we face choices to go into the attic where the treasure is, or to go through that
day missing the richness of life found in the choice to be with Jesus.
Moses once prayed, “Teach us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of
wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
I pray that God would help us to wake up every morning and say, “Here’s my
opportunity…
To be with Jesus,
To learn from Jesus,
How to become like Jesus.
And treasure this day.”

god is closer than you think pt1

Week 1: The Promise
How many of you would like a closer relationship with God than you have right now?
(me too)
How many of you have ever thought that it seems as though God is distant or removed
from your situation? (me too)
How many of you would be willing to engage in a journey of discovery over the next
forty days that could set you on a course to grow closer to God and recognize his presence? (me
too!)
Over the next six Sundays we are embarking on a spiritual adventure. And I expect that
every single person who authentically engages in this endeavor will discover that …
God Is Closer Than You Think!
For some of us this will mean a course correction in our spiritual journey. Somewhere in
the past we started to spiritually drift away from the vibrant relationship with God that we once
knew.
For others it’s going to be a season of discovery. Maybe you’ve never been close to
God—but you’ve desperately wanted to have a relationship with him.
It could be that your relationship with God is perking along just fine. But because of your
closeness to God there is an inner drive to be even closer—for prayer to be more personal, for a
sharper awareness of his activity in and around you.
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey … the next six weeks are designed to bring us
even closer in our relationship with God.

I’m going to ask you to pray with me as we ask God’s blessing on our spiritual
expedition.
[PRAYER]
A woman at Willow Creek Community Church was telling John Ortberg about her threeand-
a-half-year-old daughter. This woman overheard the little girl talking to her sibling and
going over some ground rules for life.
“Obey God!” she said. “You must obey God! You gotta obey God! I want you to obey
God!”
After a moment’s pause, she said: “I’ll be God.”
I want to give you a chance to put yourself in God’s place for a moment.
Given all the pain and grief it caused him, why did God create the human race?
What’s he after? What’s his purpose in it all? In a sense—what does he want to get out of
it?
I’m going to tip my hand. Let me read you a recent quote from the best Christian
philosopher I know:
“The Bible is all about life ‘with-God.’ It is about how God made this ‘with’ life possible
and will bring it to pass. The unity of the Bible is discovered in the development of life
with God as a reality on earth, centered in the person of Jesus.”
For example, let’s consider the very first relationship God had with any people.
God creates Adam in the garden of Eden.
I think most people picture it this way: Adam lived in the garden—and God lived
someplace else far away called heaven and occasionally came down to earth to visit. But it was
not that way.
You see, the Bible is real clear that God is omnipresent—he isn’t restricted to any
location.
So in the garden of Eden, God and Adam—in a sense—hung out together. When Adam
worked—God was right there.
When Adam named animals, God was right there. The Bible says that “whatever the man
called each living creature—that was its name.”
God would say: “Hey Adam, good name. You’re a good namer.”
When Eve was created, and Adam first saw her—God was right there.
Adam said: “God—nice job on the woman! I had no idea you could do that.”
Adam and God were—among other things—inseparable friends.
What Adam did—he did with God.
Where Adam went—he went with God.
Until Adam and Eve’s fateful decision to disobey God. A day some people call “the fall.”
After the fall, God comes to the garden to walk with Adam in the cool of the day.
Apparently, that was part of their routine together. They’d go for a walk.
But this time, Adam is not there. And God calls out: “Adam—where are you?”
There’s a rustling behind some shrubbery and a timid voice answered God: “I heard you
in the garden, and I was afraid. So I hid.”
God wanted to be with Adam. But Adam didn’t want to be with God.
And God’s heart breaks. But God does not give up.
You see, God’s great desire was to be with Adam. And even though the relationship had
been violated because of Adam and Eve’s choice—because of their sin—God continued to want
that relationship restored. God longed for the intimacy of their walks—of just hanging out
together.
So God worked with Adam’s descendants. And every once in a while one of them would
get it. For example, the Bible says of Enoch: “and Enoch walked with God.”
Later, the Bible says of Noah: “and Noah walked with God.”
God wasn’t being elusive or developing huge hoops for a person to jump through to be
with him. The simple truth of the matter is that most people didn’t want to be with him. Mostly
they hid.
But God kept wanting to be with people.
One day, it’s kind of like God said to the angels: “Now watch this. I’m going to start a
new people—called Israel. I’m going to teach them to be with me, so everyone will want to be
with me.”
And the Bible records a new pattern of relationships with God. Talking about a
grandfather, his son, and his grandson it says that “God was with Abraham. God was with Isaac.
God was with Jacob.”
And in those relationships, God would do surprising things to teach people about what it
meant for them to be with him.
Jacob had a son named Joseph for whom life didn’t work out well for a long time, but the
strangest thing kept happening.
Joseph was sold into slavery, but “the Lord was with Joseph” in slavery.
He was put in prison, but the text says: “but while Joseph was there in the prison, the
Lord was with him.”

Later on, when the people of Israel were led out of Egypt, the text says the Lord was in a
pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night—so the people would know he was with
them.
It’s like God just keeps saying:
• I want to be with you. I want to hang out with you.
• I’ll be with you in the garden.
• I’ll be with you in the flood.
• I’ll be with you in prison, in slavery, in Egypt, in the wilderness, in the Promised
Land—
• I just want to be with you.
Moses came to prize this “life-with-God” so much that once when Israel was in the
wilderness, God told them they could go on to the Promised Land.
“Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from
here. How will anyone know that you are pleased … with your people unless you go with
us?’” (Exodus 33:15–16)
In other words: I’d rather live in the wilderness with you than in the Promised Land
without you.
Are you picking up on the great desire of God’s heart? On and on this theme goes, until
finally God wants to be with his people so badly he comes up with a really wild idea.
It’s like God says to the angels: “I can’t stand it anymore. I’m just going to go on down
there my own self.”
And the angels say: “You can’t do that. How are you gonna do that?”
And God says, “Watch this!”
He sneaks down. And in the middle of the night, he is born in a manger. He grows up in a
one-horse town. And then he gets a job pounding nails eight hours a day.
Do you remember the conversation the angel had with Joseph when he informed him
about Mary’s pregnancy? The angel said that Jesus would be called “Immanuel.”
Do you know what that means? It means: “God with us.” In fact, I believe a central theme
of the Bible could be called the “Immanuel Principle.” The Immanuel Principle is God’s
constant desire that we should be in every aspect a dwelling place for him.
At the end of his ministry Jesus confirmed this when he said: “Surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
When you asked Jesus to be your leader and forgiver, God sent his Spirit into your life to
always be with you. Your body really is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Think about it: you can be
Beth-el, the house of God.
It’s like God is saying: “I just want to be with you.”
God’s desire is so central that at the very end of the Bible—when God sets everything
right—the fulfillment of human existence is described in the same terms:
“Now the dwelling of God is with[ human beings], and he will live with them. They will
be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” ( Revelation 21:3)
God’s desire and plan leads all the way to eternity! Now, let’s get specific and talk about
what this means for us today—and this week.
When the Bible says “the Lord was with Joseph,” what exactly did that look like? How
do we experience that?
God can use an infinite variety of ways to express his presence: creation, other people,
Scripture, teaching, art, solitude, world events, even the joy of eating a greggs doughnut!

But the place where we always must record these expressions of his presence is in our minds and
our thoughts and feelings.
My part is to learn to continually focus my attention on God. I think about him, talk to
him, ask for his help, tell him my plans, pour out my heart; I complain about my problems; I give
thanks for what makes me happy.
So this week, start here. When you’re at work and you sense anxiety or worry—think
about the greatness of God. He’s big enough to take care of you through whatever is looming.
Talk to him.
When you’re faced with some kind of temptation—be up-front with him about the
temptation—he already knows what you’re facing. Ask for his help to show you the best route of
escape and then the courage to take it.
If you’re facing problems in your life—pour out your heart to him. He is waiting to hear
from you … let him know from your perspective how difficult or impossible it seems.
If you’re thankful or happy—tell him … and be specific.
Are you getting the idea? If I were going to boil down the practice of all spiritual life in a
single statement from Scripture, it would be this:
“I have set the LORD always before me.” (Psalm 16:8)
When I do that, there are certain thoughts that are characteristic of God that settle into my
soul. When these are present, there is a good chance that they are the result of God’s presence
with me. I want to walk through these signs of God’s presence so you can recognize them when
they come.
Start to set God always before you. One of the indicators of God’s presence is:
1. Reassurance
When God was talking to Joshua, just before Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised
Land, God reassured him of his presence and said:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD
your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
Somebody sent me a list of statements that are supposed to be actual quotes from
employee performance evaluations:
—I would not allow this employee to breed.
—This employee is not really so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won’t-be.
—He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.
—This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
—He doesn’t have ulcers, but he’s a carrier.
—If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he’s the other one.
I mention this because for a lot of people, when they think about God, they think about
him primarily as a kind of divine performance evaluator. If you think about God in this way, you
will find yourself avoiding him in your mind. You won’t talk to him much.
Understand—in the history of the universe, God has never asked anyone to do something
by themselves.
Whatever God calls you to do, he calls you to do in partnership with him. And one of the
ways you will know God is present is when you experience his reassurance.
—Somebody rejects you, but in the midst of the pain the thought occurs to you: I am
loved by God.
—You face a challenge at work—maybe even losing your job—but in the middle of all
that anxiety an idea comes into your mind: I can handle this. This will not destroy me.
—You’re in transition. Facing a big change, not sure how it will work out, suddenly you
have this sense that you’re not alone.
—It hit a man named Paul in prison one day when he realized: “I can do this. I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.”
When those thoughts come into your mind—whether through Scripture that you know,
through a book or tape, through another person—be open to the possibility that this is not a
random occurrence.
This is “God-with-you.” This is the “Immanuel Principle” at work.
A second sign of God’s presence with you is his …
2. Guidance
The psalmist wrote: “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me, even at night my heart
instructs me.” (Psalm 16:7)
Sometimes guidance will come to you:
—You’re in a store, there’s a clerk behind a counter that everyone treats like a machine,
and you get a sudden inclination to look her in the eye, to say an inner prayer of blessing.
—You’re stumped at work and all of a sudden an idea breaks through that is just what
you need.
—You’re feeling distant from your child, all of a sudden an opportunity to build a bridge,
reconnect is just dumped in your lap.
—You’re about to say something stupid/self-promotional/damage-inflicting when a still,
small voice in your head whispers, “Shut … up.”
Remember the Immanuel Principle and be open to the possibility that God is doing what
he said he would do. He is with you. He is reassuring you. He is guiding you.
The third sign of God’s presence with you may not feel like he is “for” you. But it is one
of the greatest expressions of his love and desire to be with you and that is …
3. Conviction
Jesus said that when the Spirit of God is present “he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” (John 16:8)
This is the hardest aspect of God’s presence.
The truth is: my desire for God can be pretty selective. Sometimes, I want God not to be
around.
An example of this is seen in children’s behavior when they’re doing something they
know they shouldn’t do.
two-and-a-halfyear-
old Larissa who was enjoying water in the backyard with “Nana.”
Nana gently counseled her to water the potted flowers, but she had just discovered mud
for the first time by pouring the water on a small patch of dirt. Nana told her not to put water on
the dirt because it makes mud and mud will “get everything dirty.”
Well, mud it was anyway, and the little girl even put the mud into a small tub of water
nearby, calling it “warm chocolate.”
Nana, who had been reading facing away from the action, soon discovered and cleaned
up what to her was a mess. Then Nana returned to her reading, but now she was seated so as to
be facing Larissa.
But the little girl soon resumed her “warm chocolate” routine, saying sweetly: “Don’t
look at me Nana. OK?”
Nana of course agreed (Nana was a little codependent) and continued her reading. Then
Larissa would make black mud, and put some of it in the tub. Then some more.
Three times she said as she continued her work, “Don’t look at me Nana. OK?”
The tender soul of a little child shows how necessary it is to us that we be unobserved in
our wrong. Most of the evil and darkness in our lives requires hiddeness to continue to exist.
The soul that chooses wrong runs from God.
The Scripture writer says that when the face of God will no longer be avoidable, the soul
will cry out in agony “to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of
him who sits on the throne.’” (Revelation 6:16).
You know, it may be that out of all the prayers that are ever spoken, the most common
one, the most quiet one, the one that we least acknowledge making, is simply this:
Don’t look at me, God.
It was the very first one spoken after Adam and Eve’s sin.
God came to walk in the garden, to be with the man and the woman, and asked: “Where
are you?”
“I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, so I hid …”
Don’t look at me, God.
A businessman on the road checks into motel room late at night. He knows the kind of
movies that are available to him right there in the room.
No one will know. His wife won’t find out. His kids won’t see. (He knows the drill and
that hotels have a disclaimer, “The name of the movie you watch won’t be on your bill.”) Go
ahead. No one will know.
But first he has to say a little prayer: “Don’t look at me, God.”
[PAUSE]
A mom with an anger problem decides to berate her kids because she’s so frustrated,
because she will get a twisted rush of pleasure from inflicting pain—
But first she has to say a little prayer: “Don’t look at me, God.”
[PAUSE]
• An executive who’s going to pad an expense account
• An employee who is going to deliberately make a coworker look bad
• A Christ-follower who makes financial decisions that will keep him from tithing,
keep him from being the kind of steward he knows God wants him to be
• A student who looks at somebody else’s paper during an exam
• A longtime church attender who relishes the opportunity to pass judgment on
somebody else
• A couple who claims to follow God but refuses to give up sleeping together
• A participant in a bitter divorce who chooses to hang on to resentment and selfrighteousness
First you have to say a little prayer.
You don’t say it out loud, of course.
Probably don’t admit it even to yourself.
But it’s the choice your heart makes:
Don’t look at me, God.
Here’s a key question when you experience the sign of God’s presence through
conviction—will you at that moment stop?
Listen to God’s Spirit.

Be honest with God: “God—the truth is I don’t want you here right now. I want to do
what I want to do. But I’ll stop. I’m willing to surrender. I’d rather let go of my
anger/addiction/pride than let go of you.”
Spiritual growth, in a sense, is simply increasing our capacity to experience the presence
of God.
The fourth sign of God’s presence is…
4. Joy
The Bible says: “You have made me to know the path of life; you will fill me with joy in
your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11)
Rate your joy-capacity on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being “Some people actually mistake
me for a mannequin” and 10 being “You have to paint a frown on my face for it to exist.” What’s
your capacity for joy?
[PAUSE]
Jesus said to people who refused to follow him, refused to be with him—it’s like this:
“We played the flute for you—and you wouldn’t dance.”
Sometimes, when God is present with you, you’ll know because a little voice inside your
head will say: “Dance!” —Some of you will be in your car, driving away from the church service, music playing
that makes you happy—you will be singing and dancing and looking like a fool: that will
give you joy.
—Some of you will be driving next to someone who is singing and dancing and looking
like a fool—that will give you joy!
—Others of you will have put in intense effort at work and accomplished something
significant—it’ll be really good. You get a surge of satisfaction and that will give you
joy.
—Or you see a sunset, or a tree in a forest preserve, or the face of a friend you love—that
will give you joy.
—You will feel a rush of gratitude for no reason at all. Just the sheer goodness of being
alive. And you feel joy.
God’s great desire is to be with you! He has expressed it from cover to cover in the pages
of the Bible. He has gone to extreme lengths to be sure you know it. He is showing you signs
through every day of his presence.
This week … experience the reassurance … the guidance … the conviction … the joy of
his presence.
Let’s make a commitment together … that we’ll do everything in
our power to show up for a small group—even if it’s way outside our comfort zone.
That we won’t miss a Sunday if it’s at all within our ability to be here.
That we’ll be faithful to do our reading of the book.
And that we will stretch out our hand to grasp the hand that is reaching down to us from
heaven.
God is playing the flute for you.
You’re at the foot of Jacob’s ladder.
You’re living in “Beth-el,” the house of God.
God is closer than you think.

The prodigal God pt5

The Feast of the Father
Text : Luke 15:11-32 NIV
Al t erna t e Ti t le: We Had to Celebra t e
Int roduc t ion: We have looked at the story of the younger brother, then we put it into its context
with the story of the elder brother. Then we put the story of the two brothers into the context of the
whole chapter. Each time we saw another important part of Jesus’ message. But we are not quite
done. We need to see the story in the context of the whole Bible. Jesus was immersed in the
Scriptures, and in this story he is giving us the essence of the whole Biblical storyline in one vivid
narrative. If we see that, we will get a 30,000 foot view of what the Bible is all about. We learn about
1) the human condition, 2) the divine solution, and 3) the new communion.
1. The human condi t ion—verses 13-17.
• The younger brother’s sin turned him into an exile from his home. He had disgraced his family
and the entire community would have been outraged. He would have had to take his money and
go far away, and he did.
• When he did so, he became an image of the human race. For we were made for life in the Garden
of Eden. Our true home is in the presence of God. But we have lost our home. We are all exiles.
• “Home” is the place that truly fits and suits us. We were made to know and serve God, to live in
his presence and enjoy his love and beauty.
• However, because we wanted to be our own Saviors and Lords, we lost God, and therefore
we wander in the world and experience what the philosopher Heidegger called
unheimlichkeit. The word is translates as “eeriness” or “uncanniness” but literally it means
“away from home.” Heidegger is referring to the anxiety and spiritual nausea that comes
from never feeling at home in the world.
• This world doesn’t address the needs of our heart. We long for a love that can’t be lost, for
escape from death, for the triumph of justice over wrong. But such things will never be
found here.
• When the younger brother “came to his senses” he realized that he needed to go home, but
how? He realized he was an outcast, so why would they receive him? Still, he went home.
2. The divine solut ion—verses 31-32.
• The centerpiece of the parable is a feast. The father throws a feast, filled with “music and
dancing” and the greatest delicacies, to mark the reconciliation and restoration of his son. He
says that when the younger son came home, “we had to celebrate.” There was no choice. Why is
the feast so important?
• In the Old Testament, meals ratified covenants, celebrated victories, and marked all special
family occasions and transitions, such as births, weddings, and funerals. Also, a feast was
established to mark the greatest event in the salvation history of God’s people to that time—the
Passover. Why were meals so important?
• In ancient times, meals were prolonged affairs that lasted all evening, usually until bedtime—
since there was little else to do after the sun went down and after a strenuous day of
labor. So evening meals became the center of family life and therefore both a symbol and
practice of intimacy.
• But we don’t need to be people of the first century to grasp all this. It is at meals that you
most feel at home. In a meal your body is getting what it needs—the pleasure and
nourishment of food and rest. But also, at meals your heart is getting what it needs—
laughter and friendship. Even today, if you have a family reunion or some kind of
homecoming—you eat. And it is at those great feasts that no matter what else is going
wrong in our lives, we feel almost at home.
• The feast means that God will bring us home some day.
• As Jesus says: “Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the
feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 8:11). Because of our
true elder brother, God will some day make this world home again. He’s going to wipe
away death, suffering, and tears, and will give us bodies that run and are never weary.
• And when we get there, we will say something like what Jewel the Unicorn said at the end
of the Chronicles of Narnia: “I’ve come home at last! I belong here. This is the land I’ve
been looking for all my life, though I never knew it!”
• The younger brother did not expect to be brought back into the family, he did not expect a
feast, since he had sinned. But that is what he gets. And the elder brother objects. Why?
• Because meals signified acceptance and relationship, the religious leaders forbid believers
from eating with “sinners.” To eat with someone was to receive him, virtually as family.
How could you do that for someone who has rejected God? Besides that, didn’t everyone
know that you become like the people you love and spend the most time with? If you eat
with sinners, it was reasoned, you would become a sinner.
• The Jewish dietary laws were extremely elaborate. They were seen as quite effective in
keeping Jews from being polluted by the pagan practices of their neighbors. In fact, during
the time between testaments, leading up to Jesus’ day, preoccupation with ritual purity
increased, as Judea came under the boot of one set of pagan masters after another. Meals
more and more became boundary markers between the righteous and sinners.
• But Jesus shattered this practice, as we see in Luke 15:2. He eats with the notoriously
wicked and the marginalized. How can he do this? How can sinners be included in the
feast?
3. The new communion—“thi s brother of your wa s dead and i s a l ive aga in.”
• Jesus leaves his own true home (Phil. 2), wanders without a home (Matt 8:20), and is finally
crucified outside the gate of Jerusalem, a sign of exile and rejection (Heb. 13:11-12). Jesus
experiences the exile that the human race deserves. He is alienated and cast out so we can be
brought home.
• On the cross, Jesus loses fellowship and communion with the father. He cries out, “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:45). He is forsaken and “cast out” of the family, so
that we can be brought in.
• As we can see from the parable itself, Jesus calls younger brothers to repent. He does not only
eat with them for the sake of “inclusiveness” or just to defy convention—rather he calls people
to change.
• And he gives us the foretaste of that great feast, what we call “The Lord’s Supper” or
Communion. To sit at the Communion table you don’t have to be perfect, only repentant. So
anyone can come, and anyone does come.
• Think of it like this—the ultimate son, who was dead and cut off, is now alive again. So we have
to celebrate! And the way we celebrate what he has done for us, is to create a new community of
forgiven sinners, in which anyone can be a part. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve
done, it doesn’t matter what your race or class or background is. Any repentant sinner can come
and be a brother and a sister, because of the death and resurrection of our true elder brother,
who took our exile and punishment upon himself.
• The death and resurrection of the Son, and the love of the Father, create a new community of
men and women who regularly break bread together to celebrate the new life and common
union they have through Jesus. It is not enough just to have an individual personal relationship
with God through Christ. You have to be an active part of the feast, the new community, the
family of God. That is where together we become conformed into the image of the one who did
all this for us.

The prodigal God pt4

The True Elder Brother
Text : Luke 15:1-6, 25-32 NIV
Al t erna t e Ti t le: Everything I Ha ve Is Yours
Int roduc t ion: We have been looking at the story traditionally called “The Parable of the Prodigal
Son.” We’ve said that you will miss the radical message of the story if you don’t see that it is about
two sons—one immoral and “bad”, one very moral and “good”—who are both alienated from the
father and therefore spiritually lost. That is a remarkable message. But there is much more—though
it too is easy to miss. We must remember that this is the third of three parables, told to the same
audience, meant to be pondered all together. What do we learn if we do that? We learn: 1) the cost
of reconciliation, 2) that there is a missing elder brother, and 3) that we have a true elder brother.
1. The cost of reconc i l i a t ion—verses 29-31.
• What did it cost to bring the younger brother home?
• At first glance, it seems not to have cost anything. There is no punishment—he is just taken
in. The father opens his arms, puts new clothes on him, and that’s that. It’s free.
• Many people have pointed this out and then argued like this: “God in heaven is like this
father. He just accepts and forgives anyone who asks. There is no need for the classic
Christian doctrine of the atonement. Christians have taught that God cannot simply
forgive, that there must be payment for sin—but here we see that reconciliation is
completely free.”
• However, this is a great mistake. The reconciliation is free to the younger brother. But it is
very costly for someone else.
• The elder brother is furious with the father for receiving his younger brother back into the
family. He alludes to it when he says, “you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate
with my friends. But… you kill the fattened calf for him!” The elder brother is angry because of
the cost of this reconciliation.
• Remember—the father had given the younger brother his entire legal part of the
inheritance. And it was all spent—all gone.
• Yet now the father is restoring him into the family. He has already put a robe on him, and
given him a ring, which was probably the signet ring with which family members ratified
contracts. The younger brother’s fair share of the wealth is all gone, but now he is back, and
every robe, ring, fatted calf is coming out of someone else’s pocket.
• Everything the father has, now is legally the elder brother’s. He is the only heir of all the
father has left. So every robe, every ring, every fattened calf, every cent of the father’s, is
ultimately the elder brother’s. When the father says to the elder brother, “everything I have
is yours” (v.31) he is speaking the literal truth.
• So the salvation of the younger son is not free after all. It has already been extremely expensive—
look at the feast. And it will be extremely expensive. The father cannot forgive the younger
brother, except at the expense of the elder brother. He is the one who must bear the cost of the
reconciliation.
2. There i s a mi ssing elder brother—verses 1-10.
• The elder brother knows all this—that forgiveness and reconciliation is never free. Someone has
to pay. Either the younger brother has to come and earn his way back into the family, as he
offered to do (see verse 19) or he can come back in immediately, through forgiveness, and then
the elder brother will have to bear the cost. Salvation cannot be free. Someone has to pay, either
the sinner or his elder brother.
• The elder brother knows this and refuses to do it. So we listen to the story and see the elder
brother “being a Pharisee,” and we are saddened. But that is not where Jesus wants our minds
and hearts to remain.
• Jesus told his listeners three parables together—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
• In each of the first two parables there is a lost object and someone who goes out, searches
for it, and brings it home with joy. The shepherd searches until he finds the lost sheep. The
woman searches until she finds the lost coin. So when we get to the parable of this lost son,
the listeners fully expect that someone will set out to search for the lost brother and bring
him home.
• To our surprise, no one does. Jesus is leading us to ask, who should have gone out to search
for this lost boy? And the answer would have been quite clear to 1st century listeners: it
should have been the elder brother.
• That was the reason that the oldest son got the lion’s share of the estate. It was his job to
sustain the family’s unity and its place in the community. It is the elder brother in the
parable who should have said something like this: “Father, my younger brother has been a
fool, and now his life is in ruins. But I will go look for him and bring him home. And if the
inheritance is gone—as I expect—I’ll bring him back into the family at my expense.”
• Jesus doesn’t put a brother like that into the story. Instead the younger son and the father have
to deal with a recalcitrant, resistant, self-righteous elder brother.
• But we don’t. The elder brother in the story is there to make us long for a true elder brother,
one who, if we go astray, won’t hold it against us but seek us and bring us back at any risk and
any cost to himself.
3. We ha ve a t rue elder brother.
• Think of the kind of elder brother we need. We need one who would not just go into a far
country, but who would come all the way from heaven to earth to find us. We need one who
would not just open his wallet for us, but pour out his life. One who would pay not just a finite
cost but an infinite debt, to bring us back into God’s family. And we do! It’s Jesus.
• See! When the father says to the elder brother “everything I have is yours” that is literally true of
Jesus. Jesus had all God’s glory. He had equal glory with the Father, but he emptied himself
(Phil 2:4-10.) He lost it all—for us.
• How do we get the father’s robe? Because Jesus was stripped naked on the cross. How do we get
the father’s feast? Because Jesus took the cup of wrath that might have the cup of joy. He is our
true elder brother—and he says so. Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both the one who makes men holy and
those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
He says, ‘I will declare your name to my brothers’.”
• Jesus came to earth and truly obeyed his Father and never disobeyed his orders. He truly had the
right to all the Father owns. But instead, he came out and searched for us, and found us in the
pigsty, and carried us home on his shoulders singing with joy. And he gave us his robe, his ring,
his place, his wealth—it is all at his expense.

the prodigal God pt3

The Elder Brother
Text : Luke 15:25-32 NIV
Al t erna t e Ti t le: He Refused to Go In
Int roduc t ion: Most people who read and study The Parable of the Prodigal Son concentrate
completely on the character of the younger son, his repentance, and the father’s forgiveness. And yet
look at the text. It doesn’t end with the return of the prodigal. Almost half of the story is about the
older son. The story is about two sons, who are both alienated from the father, who are both
assaulting the unity of the family. Jesus wants us to compare and contrast them. The younger son is
“lost”—that is easy to see. We see him shaming his father, ruining his family, sleeping with
prostitutes, and we say, “yes, there’s someone who is spiritually lost.” But Jesus’ point is that the
older son is lost too. Let’s learn from the text: 1) a startling new understanding of lostness, 2) what
the signs of it are (so we can recognize it in ourselves), and 3) what we can do about this condition.
1. A st a rt l ing new underst anding of lostness—verse 28.
• The elder brother would have known that the day of the prodigal’s return was the greatest day in
his father’s life.
• The father has “killed the fattened calf”, an enormously expensive extravagance in a culture
where even having meat at meals was considered a delicacy.
• The older son realized his father was ecstatic with joy. Yet he refused to go into the biggest
feast his father has ever put on. This was a remarkable, deliberate act of disrespect. It was his
way of saying, “I won’t be part of this family nor respect your headship of it.”
• And the father had to “go out” to plead with him. Just as he went out to bring his alienated
younger son into the family, now he had to do the same for the older brother.
• Do you realize what Jesus is saying to his listeners, and to us? The older son is lost.
• The father represents God himself, and the meal is the feast of salvation. In the end, then,
the younger son, the immoral man, comes in and is saved, but the older son, the good son,
refuses to go in and is lost.
• The Pharisees who were listening to this parable knew what that meant. It was a complete
reversal of everything they believed. You can almost hear them gasp as the story ends.
• And what is it that is keeping the elder brother out? It’s because: “All these years I’ve been
slaving for you and never disobeyed...” (v.29). The good son is not lost in spite of his good
behavior, but because of his good behavior. So it is not his sin keeping him out, but his
righteousness.
• The gospel is neither religion nor is it irreligion; it is not morality nor is it immorality. This
was completely astonishing and confusing to Jesus’ hearers at the time—and it may even be
astonishing and confusing to you.
• Why is the older son lost?
• The younger brother wanted the father’s wealth, but not the father. So how did he get what
he wanted? He left home. He broke the moral rules.
• But it becomes evident by the end that the elder brother also wanted selfish control of the
father’s wealth. He was very unhappy with the father’s use of the possessions—the robe, the
ring, the calf. But while the younger brother got control by taking his stuff and running
away, we see that the elder brother got control by staying home and being very good. He
felt that now he has the right to tell the father what to do with his possessions because he
had obeyed him perfectly.
• So there are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord.
• One is by breaking all the laws and being bad. One is by keeping all the laws and being good.
• If I can be so good that God has to answer my prayer, give me a good life, and take me to
heaven, then in all I do I may be looking to Jesus to be my helper and my rewarder—but he
isn’t my Savior. I am then my own Savior.
• The difference between a religious person and a true Christian is that the religious person
obeys God to get control over God, and things from God, but the Christian obeys just to
get God, just to love and please and draw closer to him.
2. Wha t the signs of thi s lostness a re—verses 29-30.
Some people are complete elder brothers. They go to church and obey the Bible—but out of
expectation that then God owes them. They have never understood the Biblical gospel at all. But
many Christians, who know the gospel, are nonetheless elder-brotherish. Despite the fact that they
know the gospel of salvation by grace with their heads, their hearts go back to an elder-brotherish
“default mode” of self-salvation. Here’s what the elder-brotherish attitude looks like. It is:
• A deep anger (v.28—“became angry”). Elder brothers believe that God owes them a
comfortable and good life if they try hard and live up to standards—and they have! So they say:
“my life ought to be going really well!” and when it doesn’t they get angry. But they are
forgetting Jesus. He lived a better life than any of us—but suffered terribly.
• A joyless and mechani c a l obedienc e (v.29—“I’ve been slaving for you”). Elder brothers
obey God as a means to an end—as a way to get the things they really love. Of course, obedience
to God is sometimes extremely hard. But elder brothers find obedience virtually always a joyless,
mechanical, slavish thing as a result.
• A coldness to younger brother-t ypes (v.30—“this son of yours”). The older son will not
even “own” his brother. Elder brothers are too disdainful of others unlike themselves to be
effective in evangelism. Elder brothers, who pride themselves on their doctrinal and moral purity,
unavoidably feel superior to those who do not have these things.
• A l a ck of a ssuranc e of the fa ther’s love (v.29—you never threw me a party). As long as
you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through your goodness, you will never
be sure you have been good enough. What are the signs of this? Every time something goes
wrong in your life you wonder if it’s a punishment. Another sign is irresolvable guilt. You can’t
be sure you’ve repented deeply enough, so you beat yourself up over what you did. Lastly, there
is a lack of any sense of intimacy with God in your prayer life. You may pray a lot of prayers
asking for things, but not sense his love.
• An unforgiving, judgment a l spi ri t . The elder brother does not want the father to forgive
the younger brother. It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel “I would never do anything
that bad!” You have to be something of an elder brother to refuse to forgive.
3. Wha t we c an do about thi s spi ri tua l condi t ion.
• First, we have to see the uniqueness of the gospel.
• Jesus ends the parable with the lostness of the older brother in order to get across the point
that it is a more dangerous spiritual condition. The younger brother knew he was alienated
from the father, but the elder brother did not.
• If you tell moral, religious people who are trying to be good, trying to obey the Bible so
God will bless them—that they are alienated from God, they will just be offended. If you
know you are sick you may go to a doctor; if you don’t know you’re sick you won’t—you’ll
just die.
• Moralistic religion works on the principle, “I obey, therefore God accepts me.” The gospel
works on the principle, “I am accepted by God through Jesus Christ, therefore I obey.”
• These are two radically different, even opposite, dynamics. Yet both sets of people sit in
church together, both pray, both obey the Ten Commandments, but for radically different
reasons. And because they do these things for radically different reasons, they produce
radically different results—different kinds of character. One produces anger, joyless
compliance, superiority, insecurity, and a condemning spirit. The other slowly but inevitably
produces contentment, joy, humility, poise, and a forgiving spirit.
• Unless a person and a congregation knows the difference between general religiosity and
the true gospel, people will constantly fall into moralism and elder-brotherishness. And if
you call younger brothers to receive Christ and live for him without making this distinction
clear, they will automatically think you are inviting them to become elder brothers.
• Second, we have to see the vulnerability of Jesus.
• Remember, again, whom Jesus is speaking to (vv.1-2). Jesus is speaking to his mortal
enemies, the men he knows will kill him. On the one hand, this is an astonishingly bold
challenge to them. He’s talking to those who want to kill him and telling them that they
are lost, that they fundamentally misunderstand God’s salvation and purpose in the world,
and that they are trampling on the heart of God.
• But at the same time, he is also being so loving and tender. When the father comes out to
the older brother, that is Jesus pleading with his enemies. He is urging them to see their
fatal error. Jesus does not scream at his enemies, or smite them, but lovingly urges them to
repent and come into his love.
• And so we have a foreshadowing of that great moment on the cross when he says, “Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This love toward
his enemies made him vulnerable and cost him his life. On the cross, instead of blasting his
enemies, he lovingly took the penalty of their sins on himself. While we were his enemies,
Christ died for us (Rom 5:10).
• Knowing what he did for us must drain us of our self-righteousness and our insecurity. We
were so sinful he had to die for us. But we were so loved that he was glad to die for us. That
takes away both the pride and the fear that makes us elder brothers.

the prodigal God pt2

The Two Lost Sons
Text : Luke 15:11-32 NIV
Al t erna t e Ti t le: Give Me My Sha re
Int roduc t ion: The third of Jesus’ three parables is the longest and most famous. It is a story about
a family—a father, an older son, and a younger son. The story begins when the younger son comes to
the father and says, “Give me my share of the estate.” In ancient times, when the father died, the
oldest son always got “a double portion” of what any other child got. If there are two sons, the
older would get two-thirds of the estate and so the younger would get one-third. So the story opens
with the younger son asking for his one-third share of the inheritance. Let’s look at: 1) the meaning
of the request, 2) the response to that request, and 3) what difference it makes for us.
1. The meaning of the request—verses 11-12.
• The younger son’s request was stunning, because the inheritance, of course, was not divided up
and distributed to the children until the father died.
• As Kenneth Bailey writes: “In Middle Eastern culture, to ask for the inheritance while the
Father is alive, is to wish him dead.”
• The request would therefore have been a disgrace to the family name, because of the
younger son’s extraordinary disrespect for his father. It would have also been a blow to the
economic standing of the family, since the father would have to sell part of his estate in
order to give him his share.
• In short, this request ripped the family apart. It was a relational and economic act of
violence against the family’s integrity.
• Why would the younger son make such a request?
• In his Confessions, Augustine gives us a theory of why we do what we do, and especially
why we sin. He makes this startling observation: “A man has murdered another man—what
was his motive? Either he desired his wife or his property or else he would steal to support
himself; or else he was afraid of losing something to him; or else, having been injured, he
was burning to be revenged.” Augustine goes on to say that even a murderer murders
because he loves something. He loves romance or wealth or his reputation or something
else too much, inordinately, more than God, and that is why he murders. Our hearts are
distorted by “disordered loves.” We love, rest our hearts in, and look to things to give us
the joy and meaning that only the Lord can give.
• The younger son may have lived with his father and may even have obeyed his father, but he
didn’t love his father. The thing he loved, ultimately, was his father’s things, not his father.
His heart was set on the wealth and on the comfort, freedom and status that wealth brings.
His father was just a means to an end. Now, however, his patience was over. He knew that
the request would be like a knife in his father’s heart, but he obviously didn’t care.
• Here is a great irony, which we will return to later in our series.
• The two sons look very different, on the surface. One runs off and lives a dissolute life, one
stays home and obeys and serves his father.
• Yet at the end, the older son is furious with the father and humiliates him by refusing to go
into the great feast. This is the older son’s way of saying that he will not live in the same
family with the younger son. So again the family’s integrity and the father’s heart are under
assault—this time by the elder brother.
• Why? The elder brother objects to the expense of what the father is doing, as we will see.
He shows that he has been obeying the father to get his things, and not because he loves
him, since he is willing to put him to shame. Both the older and younger sons love the
father’s things, but not the father.
2. The response to the request—verse 12b, 20-24.
• The younger’s son request to the father would have shocked Jesus’ listeners, but the father’s
response is even more remarkable. This was a patriarchal society, in which you were required to
show deference and reverence toward those older or above you. This kind of contempt and
insolence would have ordinarily met with outrage. The listeners would expect the father to
explode in wrath, to drive the son out with blows.
• Instead, we read the simple words, “so he divided his property between them.” We need to put
ourselves into the historical context. In those days, most of a family’s wealth was in their land
and property. Indeed, their family land was part of their very identity. It is likely that the father
had to sell some of his land in order to become “liquid” and give his younger son his share.
• This is reflected in the unusual Greek word used in verse 12 translated as “property.” It is the
word “bios” which means “life.” It says, literally, he divided his “life” between them. Why use
that word? Probably it was a way to convey what it felt like for the father to lose his land, his
family’s good name and status, and the presence of one of his two sons. The father is being asked
to tear his very life apart—and he does.
• The older son and anyone else in the community would have thought that the father was being
foolish to give in to the younger son’s request. But looking back, we know better. If the father
had become embittered, and had perhaps beaten the young man or done something else severe
to him, no restoration would have ever happened. The father’s heart would have been too
hardened to ever receive him back, and the son may never have expected or wanted the father to
do so.
• By bearing the agony and pain of the son’s sin himself, instead of taking revenge, instead of
paying the son back by inflicting pain on him, the father kept the door open in the relationship.
The father was willing to suffer for the sin of the child, so that some day reconciliation would be
possible.
3. Wha t di fferenc e i t makes for us.
• First, it means that whether we are irreligious, free-wheeling, “younger brother” types or moral,
religious “elder brother” types, we have a problem with what Augustine calls “inordinate love”
or idols of the heart.
• For example, imagine a wife who has a husband who spends hours with another woman
talking about all his and her problems, and he goes traveling with this other woman, and
talks and thinks about her incessantly. So the wife confronts her husband and he says,
“What’s the problem? I married you, didn’t I? I pay the mortgage, don’t I? I do all my
duties, don’t I? If someone asks, I say you are my wife. Why are you so upset?” The wife will
say (rightly) that someone else has captured his heart and imagination.
• Many of us are like the elder brother. We may obey all the rules, but our real heart and
passion is something else—our career, or making money, or our children, or peer
acceptance. If any thing has a controlling position in our heart, if any thing is more
important to our happiness than God—then that thing is a “god” to us, an “inordinate love.”
• Recognize these things for what they are. Do you see them in your own heart and life? Once
we see these things for what they are, what can be done about them?
• Second, it means that our Lord has done for us what the father in the parable did for his son.
• When God came into this world, we would have expected him to come in wrath, to appear
and drive us out with blows. But he did not. He didn’t come with a sword in his hand, but
with nails in his hands. He didn’t come to bring judgment, but to bear our judgment.
• Jesus went to the cross in weakness, and there, voluntarily, his life was literally torn apart.
And for his only property left, his garment, they cast lots. But he did it so that, when we
repent, like the younger son, forgiveness and reconciliation is now available.
• And how does this help us with our “disordered loves”? Objectively, it means there is real,
true forgiveness for them. Our guilt is dealt with by Jesus’ blood. Subjectively, when we see
the absolute beauty of what Jesus has done for us, it captures our hearts. Money can’t die
for us, popularity can’t die for us. There is nothing more beautiful in all of reality than the
picture of a perfectly happy Being, leaving all the bliss of heaven, and sacrificing everything
for the sake of rebellious, undeserving, ungrateful people. The more you look at Jesus doing
that, the more you will love him above anyone or anything else. He will capture your heart
so that nothing matters more than he does. When you see what he’s done for you, it makes
the worst times bearable and the best times leave-able.
• As John Newton wrote,
Our pleasure and our duty,
Though opposite before,
Since we have seen His beauty,
Are joined to part no more:
It is our highest pleasure,
No less than duty’s call,
To love Him beyond measure,
And serve Him with our all.

the prodigal God pt1

The People Around Jesus
Text : Luke 15:1-10 NIV
Al t erna t e Ti t le: He Wel comes Sinners
Int roduc t ion: Luke 15 begins with the religious leaders noticing something—that Jesus seems to
attract and befriend “tax collectors and sinners,” moral outcasts of respectable society. We read in
verse 2 that they “mutter” to one another about this. We can almost imagine them saying: “He
welcomes sinners! This kind of person never comes to our meetings. This must be because he is
telling them what they want to hear. He is not calling them to repent or change.” In response, Jesus
tells them three parables. By listening carefully to all three parables, and especially to the last one,
traditionally called The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus challenges his listeners’ fundamental
assumptions about God, sin, and salvation. He gives them an entirely new way of thinking about
God, themselves, and the whole world. This week we look at the first two of these parables. Let’s
notice three sets of characters: 1) the unwilling listeners, 2) the lost things, and 3) the joyful seekers.
1. The unwi l l ing l i st eners—verses 1-3.
• There are two groups of people around Jesus—“tax collectors and ‘sinners’”, and “Pharisees and
the teachers of the law.”
• The religious group is especially offended that Jesus eats with sinners. Table fellowship was
considered a sign of acceptance and friendship. How, they thought, can he be so open to them?
Doesn’t he realize that they are the “bad people”— who are the real trouble with the world?
(And, therefore, that we are the “good guys”?)
• Jesus does not give a direct, compact answer. Instead, he responds with three stories or parables.
It is important to realize that these parables were not spoken in a vacuum. The purpose of all
three parables was to challenge the Pharisees’ point of view.
• When we get to the final parable, we will realize that both groups of people—“sinners” and
“religious people”—are actually in the parable. That is why the last story, the story of the
prodigal son, is Jesus’ final answer. But that is to come later. For now, let’s notice how he begins
to challenge the Pharisees’ attitude and categories of thought in the first two stories.
2. The lost things—verses 4-5, 8.
First, Jesus confronts their categories about sin.
• In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd goes out to find the sheep. A sheep is a stupid
animal that is completely helpless when lost. In the second parable the lost object is a coin, even
more incapable of finding its way home.
• The three lost “objects”—the sheep, the coin, and (in vv. 11-32) the son—all represent people
who are spiritually lost, far from God. This is Jesus characterizing the people the Pharisees view
as “sinners.” They are lost, yet they are lost in quite different ways. The sheep is lost through
foolishness, the coin through thoughtlessness, and the son through willfulness.
• Taken together, this is a nuanced, multi-dimensional view of sin.
• Here’s an example. Mr. Smith has a problem with abusive anger—he often flies off the handle
and is verbally abusive and sometimes physically so. Why?
• Is his problem genetic? Is it a matter of brain chemistry? Is it just part of his inborn nature,
as in the example of the sheep?
• Or is his problem the result of a bad environment? Perhaps the result of poor parenting and
family life? Was he, like the coin, mismanaged by his “supervisors”?
• Or does his problem stem from selfishness and pride, as with the prodigal son?
The answer is that usually, in varying degrees, it is all of the above.
• Sin is deeply complex. It is inborn in you, it is magnified by sinful treatment, and it is deepened
and shaped by your own choices. Jesus’ view of sin is more comprehensive and multi-dimensional
than that of many psychologists, sociologists, and many religious leaders. It is certainly more
comprehensive than the view held by the Pharisees listening to him.
3. The joyful seekers—verses 6-7, 9-10.
Second, Jesus confronts their categories about salvation.
• Most people think of religion as “humanity’s search for God.” We like to think of ourselves as
spiritual seekers, as honest inquirers. We look at the religions of the world and, while giving
somewhat different directions about how to do so, they all seem to agree that if we sincerely
search for God we will find him. Millions of people the world over believe that by believing and
obeying God’s law in the Bible, they can find God.
• The problem is that anyone who feels they have searched for and found God will naturally
disdain those who seem to be making no effort at all. They will look at “sinners” and say, “I
found God! If you try, you can. I did.”
• But the Biblical gospel turns this idea on its head. The shepherd (whom Jesus obviously identifies
with) must go out to seek and to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10). Likewise the coin cannot
search and find its owner, the owner finds the coin.
• And here is the first great blow to the world’s categories. Every other religion says that we can
search for and find God if we try hard enough. Only Christianity says, no, God had to come
down into the world to seek and save us. Salvation must be by his grace, not our achievement.
• The end of each parable challenges not just the categories of the Pharisees but their heart and
attitude. A theme through all three parables is the joy of finding the lost. God does not look at
spiritually lost people the way the Pharisees do. Because the Pharisees do not see themselves as
lost sinners saved by grace, they disdain “sinners”. They feel superior to them. But heaven
rejoices when “sinners” are reached and found.
• Jesus is the Great Shepherd, even more intent and joyful than the shepherd of the parable. For
Jesus knew that he would have to die to bring the lost home, but “for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Heb. 12:2). The joy he had in doing his Father’s will,
and the joy he had in finding us, was so great that he was willing to endure the cross.

Ten Principles of Christian Giving

It is well known that the apostle Paul organized a collection from the
Greek churches of Achaia and Macedonia for the benefit of the impoverished churches of Judea. It may seem extraordinary that he should have devoted so much space in his letters to this mundane matter, referring to it in Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 16, and 2 Corinthians 8-9. But Paul did not see it as a mundane matter. On the contrary, he saw it as relating to the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the unity of the Spirit. In fact, it is very moving to grasp this combination of profound Trinitarian theology and practical common sense.
Moreover, Christian giving is an extremely important topic on the contemporary church’s agenda. For I doubt of there is a single Christian enterprise in the world, which is not currently hindered and hampered by lack of funds. Only this past week I heard of two Christian organizations both of which are threatened with closure unless their income dramatically increases.
In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 the apostle develops 10 principles of Christian giving.
1. Christian giving is an expression of the grace of God (8:1-6).
And now, brothers we want you to know about the grace that
God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.6So we urges Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
You will notice that the apostle Paul does not begin by referring to the generosity of the churches of Macedonia in Northern Greece. He refers instead to the generosity of God, to ‘the grace, which God has given to the Macedonian churches’ (v.1). In other words, behind the generosity of Macedonia, Paul saw the generosity of God. For grace is another word for generosity. Our gracious God is a generous God, and he is at work within his people to make them generous too.
More remarkable still is the fact that three tributaries contributed to the river of Macedonian generosity, namely (v.2) their severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty. In consequence, the Macedonians gave even beyond their ability (v.3). And they pleaded for the privilege of sharing in this service to God’s people in Judea (v.4).
Indeed, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to Paul and his apostolic band (v.5). Also Paul had urged Titus to complete what he had begun in Corinth, the capital of Achaia, a little while ago (v.6). What was this? It was this same ‘act of grace’.
This then is where Paul begins–with the grace of God in the
Macedonian churches of Northern Greece and with the same grace of God in the Achaean churches of Southern Greece. Christian generosity is fundamentally an outflow of the generosity of God.
2. Christian giving can be a charisma that is a gift of the Spirit
(8:7).
But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Thus, as they excel in the spiritual gifts of faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness and love, the apostle urges them to excel also ‘in this grace of giving’. Similarly in Romans 12:8 Paul includes among another list of charismata ‘contributing to the needs of others’.
Why is it important to draw attention to this? It is because many of
God’s endowments are both a generous gift given to all believers and a particular gift (charisma) given to some. For example, all Christians are called to share the gospel with others, but some have the gift of an evangelist. Again, all Christians are called to exercise pastoral care for others, but some are called to be pastors. Just so, all Christians are called to be generous, but some are given the particular ‘gift of giving’.
Because they have been entrusted with significant financial resources, they have a special responsibility to be good stewards for the common good.
3. Christian giving is inspired by the cross of Christ (8:8, 9).
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of you love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
The Corinthians were not being commanded, still less browbeaten, to give generously. Rather the sincerity of their love was being put to the test by comparison with others and especially (it is implied) by comparison with Christ. For they knew the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We take note of this further reference to divine grace. Not only is the grace of God at work in us (v.1), but the grace of Christ challenges our imitation (v.9).
Here are two references to poverty and two references to wealth.
Because of our poverty Christ renounced his riches, so that through his poverty we might become rich. We must not misunderstand this by supposing that material poverty and wealth are in mind. No, the ‘poverty’ of Christ is seen in his incarnation and especially his cross, while the ‘wealth’ he gives us is salvation with all its rich blessings.
4. Christian giving is proportionate giving (8:10-12).
And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter:
Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
During the previous year the Corinthian Christians had been the first not only in giving but in desiring to give (v.10). So now Paul urges them to finish the task they had begun, so that their doing will keep pace with their desiring. And this must be according to their means (v11). Thus
Christian giving is proportionate giving. The eager willingness comes first. So long as that is there, the gift is acceptable according to what the giver has, not according to what he has not (v.12).
This expression "according to his means" reminds us of two similar expressions which occur in the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 11:29 members of the church in Antioch gave to the famine-stricken Judean
Christians "each according to his ability." In Acts 2 and 4 members of the church in Jerusalem gave "to each according to his need."
Does this ring a bell in our memories? In his Critique of the Gotha
Programme (1875) Marx called for a society, which could "inscribe on its banners 'from each according to his ability' and 'to each according to his need' ”. I have often wondered if Marx knew these two verses in Acts and if he deliberately borrowed them. Whatever our politics and economics may be, these are certainly biblical principles to which we should hold fast. Christian giving is proportionate giving.
5. Christian giving contributes to equality (8:13-15).
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: ‘He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little’.
Paul’s desire he explains to his Corinthian readers, is not that others may be relieved while they are hard pressed, for that would merely reverse the situation, solving one problem by creating another, but rather that there might be equality (v.13). He goes on to repeat his argument. Now at present Corinthian plenty will supply the needs of others, so that in turn Paul illustrates the principle from the supply of manna in the desert. God provided enough for everybody. Larger families gathered a lot, but not too much, for nothing was left over.
Smaller families gathered little, but not too little, for they had no lack
(v.15).
Thus Paul put the affluence of some alongside the want of others, and then called for an adjustment, that is, an easing of want by affluence.
Twice he concluded that this was with a view to isoles, which can mean either ‘equality’ or ‘justice’.
What is this ‘equality’ for which Paul calls? It may be said to have three aspects.
First, equality is not egalitarianism. God’s purpose is not that everybody receives an identical wage, lives in an identical house, equipped with identical furniture, wears identical clothing and eats identical food – as if we had all been mass produced in some celestial factory! No. Our doctrine of creation should protect us from any vision of colourless uniformity. For God the Creator has not cloned us. True, we are equal in worth and dignity, equally made in God’s image. True, God gives rain and sunshine indiscriminately to both the evil and the good. But God has made us different, and has given his creation a colourful diversity in physique, appearance, temperament, personality and capacities.
Secondly, the equality we seek begins with equality of educational opportunity. Christians have always been in the forefront of those demanding literacy and education for all. For to educate is to lead people out into their fullest created potential, so that they may become everything God intends them to be. For example, equal educational opportunity means not that every child is sent to college, but that every child capable of benefiting from a college education will be able to have one. No child should be disadvantaged. It is a question of justice.
Thirdly, equality abolishes extreme social disparity. Julius Nyerere, ex-
President of Tanzania, said in his Arusha Declaration that he wanted to build a nation in which ‘no man is ashamed of his poverty in the light of another’s affluence, and no man has to be ashamed of his affluence in the light of another’s poverty.’
The same dilemma confronts missionaries. Should they ‘go bush’, becoming in all things like the nationals they work among? Or should they continue to enjoy western affluence without any modification of their lifestyle? Probably neither. The Willowbank Report on ‘Gospel and
Culture’ (1978) suggests that they should rather develop a standard of living ‘which finds it natural to exchange hospitality with others on a basis of reciprocity, without embarrassment’ (Making Christ Known. Eerdmans/Paternoster, 1996, p. 82.
In other words, if we are embarrassed either to visit other people in their home, or to invite them into ours, because of the disparity of our economic lifestyles, - something is wrong. The inequality is too great. It has broken the fellowship. There needs to be a measure of equalization in one or other direction or in both. And Christian giving contributes to this equality.
6. Christian giving must be carefully supervised (8:16-24).
I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative.
And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honour the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honour to
Christ. Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.
The handling of money is a risky business. Throughout church history religion has too often been commercialized. Paul is evidently aware of the dangers. So he writes both that ‘we want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift’ (v.20) and that ‘we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men’ (v.21). That is, he was determined not only to do right, but also to be seen to do right.
So what steps did Paul take? First, he did not handle the financial arrangement himself, but put Titus in charge of them (vv.16, 17) and expressed his full confidence in him (v.23). Secondly, Paul added that he was sending along with Titus another brother, who was ‘praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel’ (v.18). Thirdly, this second brother had been ‘chosen by the churches to accompany’ Paul and carry the gift (v.19;cf. 1 Cor. 16:3). Thus the people who carried the offering to Jerusalem had been elected by the churches because they had confidence in them.
In our day it is wise to take similar precautions against possible criticism. In this connection we have reason to be profoundly grateful for the wisdom and integrity of Billy Graham for declining to handle his organization’s finances, for accepting a fixed salary and refusing all ‘love offerings’, and for ensuring that audited accounts are published after every crusade. Similarly, we are grateful for the formation of ECFA (the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) which sets standards of financial accountability for Christian organizations.
7. Christian giving can be stimulated by a little friendly competition
(9:1-5).
There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. For I know your eagerness to help and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we – not to say anything about you – would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Paul had been boasting to the Macedonian churches of Northern
Greece (e.g. Philippi) about the eagerness of the Achaean churches of
Southern Greece (e.g. Corinth) to give, and the South’s enthusiasm has stirred the North to action (v.2). Now Paul is sending the brothers already mentioned to the South (especially Corinth) in order to ensure that his boasting about the South will not prove hollow but that the
South will be ready as he had said they would be (v.3).
For if some northerners were to come south with Paul, and were to find the south unprepared, it would be a huge embarrassment to Paul, and even a public humiliation for him (v.11). That is why Paul was sending the brothers in advance, in order to finish the arrangements for their promised gift. Then they would be ready and their gift would be generous and not grudging (v. 5) First Paul has boasted of southern generosity, so that the northerners will give generously. Now he urges the southerners to give generously, so that the northerners will not be disappointed in them.
It is rather delightful to see how Paul plays off the north and the south against each other. He boasts of each to the other, in order to stimulate the generosity of both. True, competition is a dangerous game to play, especially if it involves the publication of the names of donors and the amount they have donated. But at least these verses provide a biblical base for the concept of matching grants. We can all be stimulated to greater generosity by the known generosity of others.
8. Christian giving resembles a harvest (9:6-11a).
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:
‘He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor: his righteousness endures forever.’
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, …
Two harvest principles are here applied to Christian giving.
First, we reap what we sow. Whoever sows sparingly reaps sparingly, and whoever sows generously reaps generously (v.6). ‘Sowing’ is an obvious picture of giving. What then can we expect to ‘reap’? We should not interpret Paul’s point with excessive literalism, as if he were saying that the more we give the more we will get, and that our income will keep pace with our expenditure. No. Each donor should give ‘what he has decided in hi heart to give’. Neither reluctantly, nor under compulsion, nor for that matter calculating what he will receive in return
(Luke 6:34, 35), but rather ungrudgingly, because ‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (v.7).
If then we give in this spirit, what will happen? What harvest can we expect to reap? Answer: ‘God is able to make all grace abound to you’ so that ‘in all things’ (not necessarily in material things) on the one hand you may have all you need, and on the other you may ‘abound in every good work’ because your opportunities for further service will increase
(v.8). As Scripture says, the consequence of giving to the poor is to have a righteousness, which endures forever (v. 9; Ps. 112:9).
The second harvest principle is that what we reap has a double purpose. It is both for eating and for further sowing. For the God of the harvest is concerned not only to alleviate our present hunger, but also to make provision for the future. So he supplies both ‘bread for food’ (immediate consumption) and ‘seed to the sower’ (to plant when the next season comes round). In the same way God will ‘supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness’ (v.10).
These verses are the origin of the concept of ‘seed-money’, expecting God to multiply a donor’s gift. But it has been much abused by some TV evangelists. Paul is not preaching the false prosperity gospel. True, he promises that ‘you will be made rich in every way’, but he adds at once that this is ‘so that you can be generous on every occasion’ (v.11a) and so increase your giving. Wealth is with a view to generosity. This is the second principle of the harvest.
9. Christian giving has symbolic significance.
There is more in Christian giving than meets the eye. Paul is quite clear about this. In the case of the Greek churches, their giving symbolized their ‘confession of the gospel of Christ’ (v.13). How is that?
Paul looks beyond the mere transfer of cash from the Greek churches to the Judean churches to what it represented or symbolized. The significance of his collection was not just geographical (from Greece to
Judea), nor just economical (from the rich to the poor), but in particular theological (from Gentile Christians to Jewish Christians). His collection was a deliberate, self-conscious symbol of Jewish-Gentile solidarity in the body of Christ.
Indeed, this truth (that Jews and Gentiles are admitted to the body of
Christ on the same terms, so that in Christ they are heirs together, members together and sharers together) was the ‘mystery’ which had been revealed to Paul (e.g. Eph.3:1-9). This was the essence for his distinctive gospel. It was the truth he lived for, was imprisoned for and died for. It is hinted at here, but elaborated in Romans 15:25-28.
Paul writes there that the Gentile churches of Greece had been ‘pleased’ to make a contribution for the impoverished Christians of
Judea. “They were pleased to do it’, he repeated. Indeed ‘they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings (culminating in the Messiah himself), they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings’ (Romans 15:27). It was a striking example of solidarity in the Christian fellowship.
In similar ways, our Christian giving can express our theology, because our gift symbolizes our support of the cause to which we are giving. For example, when we contribute to evangelistic enterprises, we are expressing our confidence that the gospel is God’s power for salvation, and that everybody had a right to hear it. When we contribute to economic development, we express our belief that every man, woman, and child bears God’s image and should not be obliged to live in dehumanizing circumstances. When we give to the maturing of the church, we acknowledge its centrality in God’s purpose and his desire for its maturity.
10. Christian giving promotes thanksgiving to God (9:11b-15).
Through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of
God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Four times in the concluding paragraph of these two chapters, Paul states his confidence that the ultimate result of his collection will be the increase of thanksgiving and praise to God.
v. 11 ‘your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God’
v. 12 ‘this service that you perform…is…overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God’
v. 13 ‘men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity…’
v. 14 ‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’
Here is a crucial test as to whether our giving is authentically Christian or not. Truly Christian giving leads people not only to thank us the donors, but to thank God, and to see our gift in the light of his – the indescribable gift of his Son.
It is truly amazing that so much is involved in what may seem to be a straightforward transfer of money. On the one hand, the doctrine of the
Trinity is involved – the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the unity of the Holy Spirit. On the other, we see the practical wisdom of an apostle of Christ.I hope that our study of these chapters will help to raise our giving to a higher level, and will persuade us to give more thoughtfully, more systematically and more sacrificially. I for one (having preached this sermon to myself before preaching it to you) have already reviewed and raised my giving. I venture to hope that you may do likewise.